Back from Portugal

What a beautiful country!

This is just for you, Daniel

Because Daniel has been giving me a hard time about not writing anything in my blog in ages, here is a little something just for him. Where are we going for dinner tonight because we forgot to take something out of the freezer? I have no ideas as usual, so it is up to you to decide!
You realise that this is a test to see how frequently you actually look at this compared to what you say you do.
Beijoca

Why I Don´t Cook

Tonight Daniel and I decided to cook dinner instead of eating out as usual. It was nothing major - just some meat and carrot rice. But in my effort to help in the kitchen, I managed to cut my finger while chopping the onion in half. Sweet. And so ended my help in the kitchen tonight. I think I´ll stick to supervising and dish duty.

Amending my previous comments

Ok, I'll admit that I don't hate all trees:
1. Trees with presents under them;
2. Trees that grow money.
Failing that, I do still hate trees.

Wish me luck because tomorrow is my first midterm of the quarter and I believe that it will prove to be much harder than previously expected given the TA review session held today. Ugh.

I hate trees!!!!

Macroeconomics used to be my favourite class (it's all relative), until the most recent homework assignment in which we had to analyse the following problem:
Consider a tree whose growth is described by the function h. If Kt is the size of the tree in period t, then Kt+1 =h(K), t=0,1,..... Assume that the price of wood, p, and the interest rate, r, are both constant over time; let p=1 and B=1/(1+r). Assume that it is costless to cut down the tree.
a. If the tree can't be replanted, present value maximisation leads to the functional equation v(K)=max{K,Bv[h(K)]}. Under what assumptions about h is there a sumple rule describing when the tree out to be cut down and sold?
b. Suppose that when the tree is cut down, another can be planted in its place. When this tree is cut down another can be planted, and so on. Assume that the cost of replanting, c>=0, is constant over time. Under what assumptions about h and c is there a simple rule describing when the trees should be harvested?

Well, close to 6 hours later, with the combined efforts of 3 brains, we came up with the solutions.
a. when the tree grows slower than r
b. when the cost is less than K

What a crap question! And now my attention goes back to microeconomics and game theory...

Random Thoughts

1. I am getting sick and tired of stoopid (spelt like that on purpose) comments/ questions by people in my classes. I never have liked hearing people talk for the sake of being heard and doubt I ever will.
2. Getting motivated to study is proving to be harder than I was expecting.
3. Not so keen on Canada's new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Even though i'll admit that I voted for him (in retrospect, I should have just spoilt my ballot, or written myself in as a candidate). Even though his views have moderated in recent years, he's still a little too free-market, right-winger for me (anti-abortion to boot).
4. I'm missing my friends in NYC quite a bit at the moment.
5. Trying to think about what I should have for dinner. As usual, no insights whatsoever!
6. Don't think my UCLA email account is working so well as only about 50% of my intended emails reach their recipients.
7. I have a growing to-do list but dwindling time before midterms next week.
Better get back to the studying I suppose...

Things are about to get busier

Well, classes are well underway now and the workload has seriously ramped up this past week. We were given 2 homework assignments that are due on Wednesday and Friday (Macro and Econometrics). To put it mildly, they are ridiculously difficult. But I´m sure that willpower will get me through.
Other than that, not a tonne to say. Daniel and I went to see the film Brokeback Mountain on Saturday evening and despite all the hype, I was not that impressed by the story or the acting. The best part for me was the fact that it was filmed outside Calgary in Kananaskis Country so it reminded me of home and I could swear that I had been to some of those places. And it was fun to see the movie that my mum had worked on (all those jeans worn in the movie were courtesy of her!).
Well, time to go and eat a homecooked meal for a change and then put in a couple more hours of studying of Macro before heading to bed. Let another fun/stressful week begin!